Under mounting pressure to take bolder action, Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday ordered non-essential business closures in counties with a COVID-19 case and a statewide ban on social gatherings of 10 or more people, while directing high-risk populations to stay at home when possible.

“If we take no measures at all, the cases will outstrip our capacity in our health care system,” Stitt said at a news conference.

The governor announced new containment steps as the state’s confirmed cases jumped by 25 and a third person died, a woman in her 60s who had been living in a Norman nursing home.

Stitt said he was suspending visitations to nursing homes and long-term care facilities immediately and until further notice.

“We know that as we continue to increase our testing capacity, we will continue to have an increased number of cases,” Stitt said. “Actually, I think our number of cases are closer to over 500 right now. They’re going to get into the thousands.”

A state senator announced Tuesday he is one of the confirmed cases.

Stitt's order will restrict operation of non-essential businesses in counties that have a COVID-19 case. That list of counties has been growing daily and stood at 19 on Tuesday. The restrictions will begin at 11:59 Wednesday and continue through April 15.

The order pertains primarily to service-oriented businesses, such as restaurants and movie theaters, many of which had already shut down or restricted operations in the major population centers. It won’t apply to some of the state’s largest single-site employers, such as Amazon, which announced Monday that a sort-center worker in Oklahoma City had tested positive.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, who last week ordered the closure of bars and restricted restaurants to drive-thru and delivery, praised Stitt’s actions on Tuesday, as did some Democratic legislators who had urged tougher statewide restrictions.

At a news conference, Holt said he did not anticipate going beyond Stitt’s actions, suggesting that he won’t impose a shelter-in-place order.

But he warned, “We think people need to prepare for this to last for some time, many weeks maybe.”

Norman Mayor Breea Clark did go further than Stitt, announcing a stay-at-home order for residents also effective at at 11:59 Wednesday, to remain in effect for 21 days.

"We are asking Normanites to stay at home except for essential activities," Clark said. "We need you to take this seriously."

Democratic state legislators had been urging the Republican governor to restrict non-essential business operations statewide and to ban social gatherings of 10 or more.

State Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, said on Twitter on Tuesday, “For several days, many of us have privately & publicly called for more action from (Stitt). We didn’t do so for politics; we did it for public health. And I want to publicly say thank you to Gov. Stitt for taking some action. I still believe we need more. But this is a start.”

A coalition of medical groups said Stitt fell short of what’s necessary. The coalition, including groups representing the state’s doctors, nurses, hospitals and dentists, urged Stitt to order people to stay home except for essential travel.

“A shelter-in-place policy is what has proven to be the most effective method globally of combating the spread of COVID-19,” the coalition said in a letter to the governor.

Stitt said he was making progress in managing personal protective equipment for health care workers. However, the Oklahoma Hospital Association said Tuesday that equipment received by the Health Department is not being distributed.

The Health Department reported Tuesday that is has more than 93,000 N95 masks, critical for hospitals. A spokesman said Tuesday that the masks had been marked expired but came with a letter from federal officials that "they were approved and safe for use. Stockpile shipments are sent out as needed."

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Meanwhile, Oklahoma state Sen. Paul Rosino, who represents parts of southwest Oklahoma City and Mustang, said Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering at home. He was not one of the senators who underwent testing on March 17 after a Senate staffer tested positive.

Which workers are essential?

Among the information posted by the federal government is guidance on which workers are considered essential and non-essential. For more information, go to www.cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt addresses the state during a video press conference on Tuesday. [PROVIDED]

Chris Casteel

Chris Casteel began working for The Oklahoman's Norman bureau in 1982 while a student at the University of Oklahoma. Casteel covered the police beat, federal courts and the state Legislature in Oklahoma City. From 1990 through 2016, he was the...
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